Sick Day
by StangeInterests32
Summary: When Belle becomes ill, she finds herself being taken of by the person she least expected and creates a bond that she didn't think was there to be made.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Okay, so this story came from a guest comment/review on one of my other stories, I'm fairly certain it was "Home". Basically, it was a request/suggestion for a Mal x Belle story, and the only reason I took so long to get to it was because I couldn't figure out a plausible way to get the plot to work. Then, in the middle of the night, I had an epiphany and realized I just needed to keep it short and simple, and hopefully, the story would do the work. That being said…

Thank you to whomever suggested this (it was a guest review), and I hope you do read it, and I hope you and everyone else enjoys this quick story. Happy reading and please let me know what you think.

Also, if anyone is wondering, I should hopefully be updating "Home" within the next day or two, and "Becoming Sisters" a little after that, I haven't forgotten about them while I was doing this little side story.

* * *

She looked in the mirror and didn't recognize herself. Her skin was paler and clammy. She could see sweat along her hairline. She dabbed it away but could feel the moisture left behind. She groaned as she saw bags under her bloodshot eyes. As she leaned closer to the mirror she swallowed and felt a sharp pain in the back of her throat.

No, I'm not, she thought, I haven't been in a long time.

But as much as she willed herself to feel better, it wasn't going to happen. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew she had to...

Belle was sick.

She splashed some water on her face and felt relieved at the way the cold water seemed to make her feel better…for all of two seconds before she felt the heat work its way back into her. Suddenly, as she went to splash a little more water, she felt this overwhelming churning in her stomach and, before she knew it, she was vomiting up the contents of her stomach.

Once Belle was certain that she couldn't possibly get rid of any more of the contents of her stomach, she carefully made her way back to her bedroom and sat down in her bed. She looked at the side of the bed her husband would usually be on and let out a sigh of dejection. Adam was off on a small, weeklong goodwill tour of Camelot, Olympus, and Sherwood Forest with Ben; which meant that for the first time in a long time, he wasn't going to be here to take care of her. Many would be surprised to learn that the sometimes gruff, sometimes strict monarch was amazingly gentle and caring whenever his wife was in some sort of distress.

Sighing in defeat, Belle reached for the phone on the bedside table and lifted the receiver. The phone was a direct line to the palace's maître d, Lumiere.

"Good morning Your Majesty, how may I serve you?" came his familiar French accent.

"Lumiere, can you please call for the royal doctor, I…I think I've come down with something."

"Of course, madam," he replied, the concern in his voice making her feel better already.

Less than an hour later Belle was still in bed, sitting up against the headboard. The royal doctor was just putting away some of his equipment after examining her. Once he was done, he turned back to the Queen Mother. "Well doctor, what do I have?"

The middle-aged doctor smiled gently and stood next to the bed. "A cold, and what looks like a little bit of a stomach virus; nothing too serious."

"How long will I be like this?"

The doctor breathed in and scrunched his face as he thought. "Best guess, a few days, a week at most, but you will be fine," he assured her. "I'll have some medication brought over later for your stomach along with something for the fever. Until then, stay in bed, rest, lots of fluids, no heavy foods, and rest."

"You said rest twice," she told him.

"That's how much you need it," he chuckled. "That being said, I'll leave you to start resting, Your Highness," he said as he left the room.

Great, she thought as she slid down in her bed and closed her eyes.

* * *

Belle wasn't aware of how long she'd been asleep when she woke up to the feeling of being gently shaken. She slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she felt her throat causing her some discomfort. As she became used to the light again, she used one hand to prop herself up in bed and the other to rub her eyes. Once the sleep had been rubbed out of them, Belle looked up to see which of the servants was waking her. When she looked at the face of the person beside her, her eyes widened in surprise.

Standing next to the bed wasn't one of the servants, but a fair, almost pale-skinned, purple haired teenager.

"Mal?" she questioned hoarsely, her voice sounding weak.

"Hi… _Your Highness_ ," Mal said cautiously, still unsure just what to call the mother of her boyfriend even after all the times she'd been over to the palace.

"Mal, you shouldn't be here, I'm…"

"Sick, I know, Ben told me, and he asked me to come check on you, and take a little bit of care of you," Mal explained. "I would've let you sleep, but Lumiere told me that the medicine your doctor was sending over just got here, and it says to take immediately," she told Belle, removing a small prescription bottle from her jacket pocket.

Belle watched as Mal read the label and then poured out two small pills into her hand and reached for the water that was on the bedside table. She didn't remember it being there before she fell asleep and wondered if Lumiere or Cogsworth brought it in, or if Mal brought it with her. She took the offered cup and swallowed down the medicine, cringing at the stinging in her throat.

"Did that hurt?" Mal asked. Belle nodded. Mal mouthed an "I'm sorry" and then placed the cup of water back on the table. "Well, I checked and Mrs. Potts is going to bring you something to eat later, and unless you need something, I'll probably go help her with it, but until then, I'm gonna hang around here in case you need anything," Mal told her as she made her way over to the chaise lounge near the window.

"Oh Mal, that's really sweet of you, but you don't have to," Belle said with strained effort, her voice sounding hoarse and scratchy.

"It's no problem really."

"Plus, I'm sure that you have other things you'd rather be doing."

Mal shook her head. "Not really. The only thing I have to do is…," she trailed off and rolled her eyes in disgust, "is homework – which I brought with me," she finished, raising her backpack off the floor as proof. "So you go back to sleep, and I'll park myself right here should you need something." Belle opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by Mal holding up her hand. "I'm staying and taking care of you. Now please go to sleep, Your Highness," Mal insisted, smiling sweetly at the end.

Belle smiled at the way Mal was determined to not be swayed. Relenting, she laid back down and turned to her side to get comfortable. "Thank you, Mal," she said as she felt herself starting to drift off to sleep.

"Not a problem, Your Highness."

* * *

A short time later, Belle and Mal we're eating lunch together. Belle was once again propped up against the headboard, a bowl of soup on the tray set in front of her. Mal was seated next to the bed on a chair that Belle had brought in. She was using the bedside table as an actual table for the sandwich she'd brought when she brought Belle her soup.

"So how's your soup?" Mal asked out of nowhere and through a mouthful of turkey and Swiss.

"Delicious, but then again, anything Mrs. Potts makes tastes that way," Belle smiled after a spoonful of the chicken soup. She turned to Mal and found herself struggling to ignore her motherly instincts. Finally, she couldn't help herself, it was like fighting against her own nature. "Mal, sweetie?" Mal looked up, readying herself for a request. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but could you please not talk with your mouth full?"

Mal looked at Belle with a half-way confused expression, but then smiled. She swallowed what was left in her mouth and then wiped her lips. "Sorry, sometimes I revert back to some old habits from the Isle; at least that's what Evie tells me. Then again, with her manners, she probably just gets irritated that I'm not more ladylike."

Belle laughed as best as her sore throat would allow. "I'm sure that's not it."

"Oh no, it is, you've got to remember, unlike me, or for that matter, most of the kids on the Isle, Evie was raised to walk, talk, and act like a princess, and princesses have good manners. I mean if it's possible, that girl will eat finger foods with a knife and fork."

Belle laughed once again. "I can imagine. Audrey does the same thing," she revealed to Mal.

"I'll bet Audrey has perfect manners."

"She does. I'd wager she's probably the only one with manners better than Evie. Audrey was raised to be the perfect princess," Belle said. When she finished that revelation, she watched as Mal looked down at her plate, her fingers playing with her fries. It certainly didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened and she immediately felt a small amount of guilt over her choice of words.

Mal felt like she'd just been compared to Audrey, her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, and by her boyfriend's mother no less. Belle could only imagine what was going through the lavender-headed girl's mind at the moment. She probably had small moments, deep in the back of her mind, where she compared herself to the daughter of Sleeping Beauty herself.

"I didn't mean that to sound like I was comparing you two," Belle told her softly.

Mal looked up and shrugged. "I...I know, it's just, she and Ben were together for a long time, and you probably had all these hopes for the relationship, maybe even her becoming queen one day."

"Hardly," Belle said faster than she meant to, surprising even Mal with the speed of the comment. Belle chuckled at the comment, realizing that it was said out of impulse more than thought. "Audrey was a – _nice_ – girl, mostly. But you want to know a secret?" Mal nodded. "Back on Family Day, when Ben told me had a new girlfriend, I actually felt relieved."

"Seriously?"

Belled nodded. "I finally told Ben what I thought about Audrey."

"Which was?"

Belle shook her head. "I shouldn't repeat it."

"No, you can't leave me hanging like that, not after you brought it up. I mean come on, if you can't talk a _little bit_ of trash about your son's ex-girlfriend with his current girlfriend, then what's the point of me being here?" Mal reasoned, her excitability eliciting a laugh from the Queen Mother.

"Alright, but this does not leave this room. The only ones I've ever said this to are Ben and Adam, and I've actually said worse around Adam," Belle explained. "Like I said, Audrey was nice, but I always felt like she was a little self-absorbed and a kiss up. And I always felt like she was trying too hard to prove that she'd make the perfect queen, so much so, that I could never tell when she was being sincere, or putting on a show."

Mal just looked at Belle, her expression not really readable, but not entirely blank. "Wow," she finally said. "Makes me wonder what you think about me."

"Do you want the answer?"

Now Mal stared back in shock. She wasn't anticipating Belle to offer up a response.

"Well, Mal?"

"Um, I guess," Mal let out slowly, now dreading the words that might come from Ben's mother.

"When Ben first told us about you, I was…shocked. Definitely shocked. I mean to find out that your son is now dating the daughter of the most evil person in the world, it was overwhelming."

Mal nodded uncomfortably. "I remember your reaction when he introduced me."

Belle laughed, "Me too. Although, give me credit, at least I was able to speak. Adam just stood there speechless." Mal nodded, smiling at the memory. "But as I've gotten to know you, I can honestly say, and I mean this one hundred percent from my heart, I love you more than I ever did Audrey," Belle admitted, looking off dreamily. "I think it has to do with the fact you seem far more sincere because with you I don't have to guess where your sincerity ends and a _show_ begins."

"Aw, thank you," Mal gushed.

"Ben also seems happier with you than he did with Audrey," Belle remarked. "And you seem happier than when you first got here from the Isle."

Mal smiled and once again looked down, this time however to hide the watery eyes that were starting to form. Belle noticed it and immediately assumed that she'd something else that she shouldn't have.

"Mal, did I say something wrong?" she asked concerned.

Mal shook her head and tried to force the tears back. When she was sure that she could look up without them falling down her face, she finally looked at Belle again. "Um, I…I am happier. And not just because of Ben, though he is a big part of it," she said taking a quick drink to give herself time to think. "Back on the Isle, it was everybody for themselves. Even with me, Jay, Evie, and Carlos, as close as we were, there were times when I really felt like if push came to shove, that I'd be alone; no friends, no family to depend on."

"That would never happen," Belle reassured her. "I've seen you and your friends, you four are as close as some families."

"I know that – now – but, back home, you always had to wonder. I mean, even my own mother seemed like she'd sell me out if it'd benefit her," Mal explained, this time making no attempt to hide her sadness.

Belle's heart broke when she heard that. She knew that on the Isle that most, probably all, of the villains weren't exactly the ideal examples of good parenting, but she'd never imagined she'd hear something like this. It also angered her because to her, and she felt this way all the way deep down into her soul, no child should ever feel like their parents would do anything other than love and protect them, especially their mothers. As she watched Mal use a napkin to dab away a tear that was about to start making its way down her cheek, Belle felt herself become teary eyed.

"I'm so sorry that you had to grow up that way," she told the young girl in front of her, hoping that the words didn't sound as hollow as they felt in the face of the pain that Mal was probably feeling after her revelation.

"Thank you, and…and it's alright. I'm more or less okay with how I grew up, I mean good or bad, I wouldn't be who I am without it, right?"

Belle nodded. "And I for one think you are turning out to be a wonderful young woman," she told Mal. Mal looked back at Belle and felt the urge to hug the woman, but she knew that Belle wouldn't allow her to for fear of getting Mal sick as well. So she just held herself back and continued on with lunch.

The conversation lightened somewhat after their heart to hear until Mal realized that it was time to give Belle another dose of her medication. Once that was done, Mal watched as Belle tried her best to fight off the drowsiness that was setting in from the antibiotic so that the two of them could keep talking, until finally, Belle was once again sleeping peacefully.

The rest of the day followed much of the same routine with Belle waking up long enough to eat and have a small conversation with Mal, surprising herself with the ease of which she felt herself bonding with her son's girlfriend. The next day followed the same way, as did the third, though Belle was feeling much better by then and really all the two of them did was talk as Belle really didn't need to be taken care of any longer.

* * *

By the end of the week, Ben and Adam had returned, their goodwill tour finally over, and Belle was elated to have her boys home. After the usual family dinner that happens whenever one or more of them returns home, they had all retired to the garden where Belle wanted to sit in order to get some fresh air. She'd been sitting out here for the past few days after being confined to her bed during her illness.

"Are you sure you're feeling better, dear?" Adam asked as he took her hand in his as they sat next to each other.

"Much better," she answered with a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thanks to Mal, especially" she said in Ben's direction.

"Mal?" he asked, confused at his mother's words. "Why her?"

"Well she came over to take care of me like you asked her to." Ben shook his head slowly, now even more confused. "Didn't you?"

"No actually," he told her. "I mentioned that you were sick, but that was it, I figured Lumiere, Cogsworth, and the doctor would handle everything."

Belle was now the one who looked confused. She distinctly remembered Mal saying that Ben asked her to take of her. She knew was still in the worst of her illness, but she was certain that was what she'd heard. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. She really came by?"

Belle nodded.

"Well, Ben, it looks like you might want to get back to school to thank her," Adam told his son, anxious to get to the bottom of the situation since he knew that Ben would be asking questions himself. "And thank her for me too."

"I will," he said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around the information before finally getting up and taking his leave.

"So he didn't ask her to come over?" Belle asked her husband after their son had left.

Adam shrugged his shoulders, "Apparently not."

"Then why did she…"

"You really need to ask that?" he asked his wife with a chuckle. Belle stared at her husband like he was speaking in tongues. "Belle, honey, I've seen how she's been acting around you lately whenever she's here to see Ben."

Belle raised her eyebrow, imploring her husband to continue.

"I don't know when it happened, but at some point, Mal started looking at you like a…mother figure. When Ben told her you were sick she probably decided to rush over and take care of you because of it." Belle looked into her husband's eyes and could tell that he as being sincere. As she thought about it, she could definitely say that because of the days spent bonding with Mal as the teenage girl took care of her, she had started to look at Mal like the daughter she'd never had, but always wanted.

"Remember how I always told you that I dreaded the thought of Audrey becoming queen?" she asked Adam after a moment of silence where he was letting her process the bombshell he'd dropped on her. He nodded.

"Because with her attitude, you didn't know what kind of queen she'd be."

She smiled up at him, relief in her eyes.

"Mal's going to be the perfect queen."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: So I decided to continue this so I could tell a little bit more. The next installment will involve Mal being sick, but I've decided to split it into several chapters since I felt it would be too long if it was just one chapter. Thanks for comments on the first chapter, and I hope you enjoy the rest.

* * *

History of Woodsman and Pirates was Mal's least favorite class. It wasn't that it was difficult for her, she just found it boring and tended to have difficulty paying attention during it. Today she found it near impossible. When she'd gotten out of bed in the morning she found herself with barely any energy, she felt dizzy, her body ached, her bones hurt, and she felt like she was boiling from the inside out. She wanted more than anything to just crawl back into bed and sleep the pain away. But she had a presentation to do today that was worth over a third of her grade.

So she muscled through the pain and the nausea and the wooziness, and forced herself to into her desk. She held her head in her hands, feeling like it would slam into the desk if she didn't. Mr. Crane was droning on about the importance of making sure their presentations were up to his standards or else there would be consequences.

"So now, I think we'll start with…Mal," he said, saying her name loudly to get her attention.

Mal looked up from hands, daze and confusion written across her face. "Huh?" she groaned weakly.

"Nice of you acknowledge our presence, young ma'am, now if you would please," he chided, causing a few giggles from the other students. She got up and immediately braced her hand on her desk as she felt herself become unbalanced.

"You alright there, Mal?" came Lonnie's voice from the middle of the room. She nodded and slowly made her up to the head of the class.

Once there, a few students looked at her and did not like what they saw. She looked paler than usual, and it looked like she was struggling to breathe. Even Mr. Crane became concerned.

"Are you okay, Mal?" he asked in concern. She nodded weakly. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to skip your presentation and go to the nurse?"

"N-no, I'm…I'm okay," she struggled. "My presenta…my presentation is on…," she began softly, but as she tried to focus, she found her vision beginning to blur and it felt like the room was starting to spin. "My presentation…is on the…"

"Mal, I think you should sit down," Mr. Crane tried to insist as he got up from his desk and approached the young student.

"I thought I was," Mal said, her voice barely above a whisper.

The next thing the class and Mr. Crane saw, with bated breath and total fright, was Mal's eyes rolling up into her head and then her slamming into the ground as she fainted. "Oh my God," Mr. Crane gasped in terror as Mal laid there unconsciously. He rushed over to Mal and immediately took her head in his hands, growing even more frightened when he felt her burning up. "Mal. Mal!" he shouted in an effort to revive her.

Several students near the back of the room had left their seats and come closer to see what was happening and those up front found themselves glued to their seats, some too scared to move, others not wanting to.

"Anxelin, go get the nurse," Mr. Crane ordered when he failed to revive Mal. "Lonnie, go get Fairy Godmother," he added as Anxelin ran past him.

* * *

Despite the snow on the ground, the ambulance made it to Auradon Heritage Hospital quickly. Mal was rushed into a room and the doctor and nurses began working on her. Fairy Godmother had been with them in the ambulance, and she was almost brought to tears as she was the EMTs try to wake Mal back up. Once she had composed herself enough to make sure that wouldn't be crying over the phone, she called Belle and Adam, and let them know what happened. They, along with Ben, Jay, Carlos, and Evie, arrived less that fifteen minutes later.

"How is she?" Ben demanded before he was even fully in the room. The doctors and nurses bowed as they saw him, and he quickly waved them back up, impatient to find out about his girlfriend.

"Ben," he heard his name called and turned to see the Fairy Godmother coming toward him. She looked like she'd been crying but had composed herself before his arrival.

"How is she?" Evie asked her desperately as she finally caught up to Ben.

"She's stable," Fairy Godmother told them all as they moved into the waiting room.

"Stable? What does that mean?" Evie asked. "Stable as in she's gonna be released soon? Or stable she's just not gonna die?"

"Evie," Jay admonished her, but she turned toward him, glaring at him.

"Mal collapsed, I just want to know what the hell 'stable' means to them."

"Evie, calm down," Belle told her gently with a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But Belle," she tried before Belle silenced her with a gesture.

"Let Fairy Godmother talk," she instructed, not just to Evie but to all of them. The group of teenagers quieted and turned toward the headmistress. "Go on."

"I heard the paramedics saying she had a high fever which they said needed to come down immediately. I gave what information I could about her medical history to help, but I just don't have it memorized. They managed to revive her long enough to ask her some questions, but she was too delirious to answer. Then she…she began vomiting and then passed out."

"Oh my God," Belle gasped, her heart wrenching at the thought of Mal losing consciousness – again.

When she'd gotten that phone call from Fairy Godmother about Mal passing out in class, she nearly fainted herself. It had been nearly three months since she and Mal had a breakthrough in their relationship, ironically due to Belle being the one who was sick. While Mal had taken it upon herself to take care of her, the two of them had bonded. They'd each learned a little more about the other, found a new respect for each other, and in some small way, opened themselves to a new understanding.

In the three passing months, Mal and Bell had started to imprint on the other. Whereas before Mal's visits to the palace were relegated to spending time with Ben, now, her visits equaled out as Belle often found Mal coming to see her. In her own right, Belle often made inquiries into Mal's well-being over at school, checking up on the girl's grades, making sure she was doing alright, staying out of trouble, all the things she did for Ben as well. All the things any good parent might do. All the things a mother might do for her daughter, she thought as she smiled at the way she often thought of Mal as her own child at times now.

And right now that child was in pain. "We need to find out more," Ben said as he began to move toward the nurse's station.

"That'll be easier said than done," Fairy Godmother told him as she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "They won't even give me any information."

"But you're…," Evie started only to be cut off.

"Not her legal guardian," Fairy Godmother finished.

"I'll talk to them," Ben said, once again having to be stopped.

"Ben, they won't tell you anything either," Fairy Godmother told him.

"But I'm the king."

"But you're still not her guardian, and the law is clear; in the case of minors, information can only be released to parents or guardians."

"So who's Mal's guardian?" Carlos asked.

"We are," Adam answered, drawing the attention of the group of teens. "When you four were brought over, Belle and I were given temporary guardianship of you all while you were here. In Mal's case, when her mother was turned into a lizard, it became permanent because we had no one else to contact since Maleficent never revealed who her father was."

"And that means they'll talk to me," Belle said, the driven purpose evident in her voice. If her tone wasn't enough, the way she walked off toward the nurse's station left no doubt that Belle was not going to be told no if she had anything to do with it. "Excuse me," she told the nurse in front of her.

"One moment ma'am," the nurse said without looking up, staying on the phone and looking at her computer screen.

"Shouldn't have done that," Adam muttered loud enough for only the small group to hear him. Fairy Godmother nodded her agreement.

"No; right now," Belle said sternly, using the tone she reserved for when she had given an instruction and it wasn't being followed properly.

The nurse rolled her eyes and looked. "How can I…oh my God," the nurse gasped in nervous fear at the sight of the Queen Mother standing before her, and not with the gentle smiling face she was known for. "Your Majesty, I am so sorry," the nurse backpedaled.

"An unconscious patient by the name of Mal was brought in here maybe twenty minutes ago. Five-two, purple hair, green eyes," Belle told the nurse, her voice dripping with authority. "What room is she in and who is her doctor?"

"M-ma'am," the nurse stuttered, her fear in the face of Belle's anger clearly evident, "as I told Fairy Godmother…"

"I am that girl's legal guardian," she said before the nurse could finish. She also reached into her purse and pulled out an official looking document and handed it to the nurse who began reading it. "Now tell me where she's at and who is her doctor."

The nurse nervously handed the document back and began typing into her computer. "Bed eighteen, Doctor Geoff."

"Thank you," Belle said before walking off.

"She carries the guardianship papers with her?" Ben asked.

Adam shook his head. "No, but when she heard Mal was coming here, she grabbed them. Your mother is nothing if not prepared," he answered his son.

Ben, and the rest of the group for that matter stood in stunned silence. Such an aggressive demeanor was not something they were used to from Belle. They were used to seeing the kind, gentle, and understanding woman who balanced out the husband who everyone expected to behave as she had just done.

"What the hell was that?" Jay asked, too surprised to hold his tongue for the sake of decorum.

"That was Belle in full on angry mother mode," Adam answered him.

Once Belle had located the proper room, she looked in, and she almost wanted to cry. Mal was lying on the hospital bed, unconscious or actually asleep she didn't know. What she did know was that the Mal she knew, the strong, smart, lively girl who tended to walk around like nothing was capable of stopping her, was not the Mal she was looking at. Right now she looked so small and frail, like the life had been sucked right out of her. She had a tube coming out of her arm that the Belle could see was connected to two IV bags as well as another wire attached to a machine that was keeping track of her vitals.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty," came a voice from behind her. Belle turned and saw a middle-aged doctor with graying black hair and nervous stance to him. "I'm Dr. Geoff, I was told you wanted to see me?"

"Yes Doctor, I wanted to know about Mal's condition."

"Are you her…," he trailed off, not knowing a delicate way of question the monarch about her ties to the purple-haired girl.

"I'm her guardian."

Dr. Geoff let out a breath and then opened the folder he'd brought with him. "Well then, she was brought in after having collapsed. Had a fever of almost a hundred and four, vomiting; when conscious, exhibited signs of delirium, she was becoming dehydrated and she seems to have a sore throat along with a possible sinus infection."

"Oh my God," Belle gasped, her eyes watering.

"We've managed to stabilize her," Dr. Geoff told her immediately, hoping it would calm Belle's nerves. "We have the IV bags to get some fluids back into her, gave her something for the vomiting, and we've managed to start bringing down the fever and gave her some anti-biotics to control her throat and sinus infection. All in all, she should be okay since they got her here fast enough."

"What does she have?"

"Well, we're waiting on her labs to come back, but best guess…I'd say the flu. I mean the sinus infection, sore throat, the fever which is causing the delirium and the dehydration, which is then causing the vomiting; it all fits."

"The flu did all this?" Belle asked in disbelief.

He nodded. "Don't get me wrong, she has quite possibly the single worst case of it I've seen this season, but yes. Why it's hitting her so hard, I can't begin to theorize since I don't have a complete medical background on her. Is there any way you could shed some light, ma'am?"

Belle shook her head.

"I…I'm afraid I know as much as you do. But I can have her records sent over. Will she be allowed to go home?"

"I'm admitting her," he answered, shaking his head at her question. "At least for a couple of days until her temperature's leveled out and she's rehydrated so she stops vomiting. Then, I'll send her home."

"M-mom?" they heard weakly from behind them. Belle turned and saw that Mal was awake, for the moment at least.

"Thank you, Doctor," Belle said as she made her way over to Mal's side.

"Mal, sweetie, its Belle," she said taking Mal's hand in hers.

"Mommy, where am I?" Mal asked, her eyes glassy and unfocused as they darted around the room. "Why does it hurt so much? Was I bad again?"

Belle felt a lump form in her stomach at that question. God help Maleficent if she intentionally used to hurt this girl, she thought. "No Mal, you weren't bad, you're in the hospital because you're sick. But you're going to be okay."

Mal immediately started shaking her head, and tried to get up, finding herself too weak to lift herself from the bed and wincing in pain from the exertion. "No, no, I'm not. I'm not sick; I don't get sick Mommy, I'm stronger than that," she whined as she, in her fever confused mind, spoke to Maleficent. As she again tried to get up from the bed she began coughing and felt the pain in her bones force her back down. "I'm sorry, Mommy," she said through her coughs. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got sick, please don't be mad at me," she said through tears as she started to cry. "I won't do it again, I'll be stronger next time."

By now even Belle couldn't stop the tears rolling down her face. What did that monster do to this sweet, sweet girl, she thought as she reached over and grabbed a tissue that was on the back desk the nurses used for holding supplies and started to wipe away at Mal's tears and tried to calm the sobbing girl.

"You're going to be okay, honey," Belle consoled her, doing her best to not sound like she was crying. "Mommy's not mad," she told her, hoping that playing along with Mal's delusion helped to settle the girl. "Mommy just needs you to go back to sleep so you can start feeling better. Can you do that for me?"

Mal nodded and closed her eyes tightly, making Belle wonder if she was afraid of being yelled at or worse. Belle lifted Mal's hand and kissed it while running her hand soothingly through the girl's hair in an effort to relax her. "Just go to sleep sweetie. You'll feel better soon."

After a moment, Mal finally fell asleep, her breathing evening out and becoming rhythmic. Belle continued to stoke Mal's hair, wishing she could just take away the pain the young girl was in. More than anything she wished she could undo whatever memories the girl was going through.

"I am so sorry you went through that," she whispered to her. As much as she meant them, nearly the same words she said to Mal three months earlier when she told Belle about her life on the Isle, she couldn't help but feel like they were hollow now, in the face of the look of fear and sorrow that had been in Mal's eyes.

"Mom?' she heard from the doorway. Without letting go of Mal's hand, Belle turned to see her son standing there, worry etched into his face.

"Ben, come on in," she told him. As he entered, she wondered how much of Mal's recent episode he'd seen. She began telling him what the doctor had told her, nearly coming to tears all over again. When she was done, she asked him to stay with Mal as she had to go tell the others and arrange for Dr. Geoff to get Mal's records from the Isle.

She walked back down the hallway to the waiting room, stopping just before entering. She took several deep breaths and composed herself as best she could. Walking back in, she informed Adam, Fairy Godmother, and Mal's friends what had happened. She and Fairy Godmother had to wrap Evie in a hug as the young girl practically started crying uncontrollably.

"Listen, I need to ask you three something," Belle said as she stood in front of Jay, Carlos, and now more collected Evie. "We wens doctors over all the time for check-up and new cases, anything people might need. They also give vaccinations. Did Mal never get any of them?"

The three villain kids looked back and forth between each other. "Well?"

"Mal told me that the only ones she had were the ones that the doctors told her mom were mandatory," Jay answered. "You know, the ones we were supposed to get as babies, and a few years after that."

Belle nodded, wanting to hear more. "But what about the ones like the yearly flu boosters?" Adam asked.

Evie shook her head. "They were voluntary. Since she wasn't being forced, Maleficent never made Mal take them, just told her to toughen up because she didn't want to be burdened with a sick kid."

"Oh my God," gasped.

"So you mean to tell me that Mal's never had a flu shot, ever?" Adam asked angrily. The three of them shook their head. "What about you three."

They all nodded.

"Mom used to tell me princes don't marry sick princesses," Evie answered.

"If I ever got sick Mom would've had to do her own housework, and she was not gonna let that happen, so she made get them," Carlos added.

"Dad needed me healthy so I could steal stuff for him to sell in the shop," Jay finished.

"So at least they're covered," Belle said in relief. "But now I can tell the doctor why it hit her so hard." Fairy Godmother came and whispered something in Belle's ear and the Queen Mother nodded. "You all came over in August, the boosters are done in September, you three didn't get them yet did you?"

Jay and Carlos groaned while Evie just shook her head, rubbing at her arm at the thought of what they knew was coming. "Adam, can you and Fairy Godmother make sure they're covered while I go get started on having Mal's records copied over from the palace.

Her husband nodded. "Come on kids, let's get this over with."

After they left, and she was alone in the waiting room, she sat down and finally let all the emotion of the situation hit her. Before she knew it, she was full on bawling, tears flowing like rivers. After a few minutes of it, she finally stopped and headed back to Mal's temporary room. She joined Ben at Mal's side and started thinking of what she was going to do once Mal was released.

She is not going rest at that dorm of hers, she thought. She'd decided that Mal would be brought over to the palace, laughing to herself as she realized that as she had the thought, she'd actually called it Mal's home, which, if she admitted it, it had become.

Don't worry Mal, I'll make sure you're okay.


	3. Chapter 3

When Mal woke up, she felt like she'd been hit by a truck; a big one that was hauling another behind it. Her head felt like it had someone banging around inside it, and her body was so sore it felt like she'd been smacked around. But what really hurt were her arms. She looked down and saw tubes coming out of her right arm and a small cuff around her left arm.

"What the…," she began to ask, but stopped when she heard her voice. It was barely a whisper, and it hurt to say even those few small words. It also didn't help that she felt like she could barely breathe correctly. "What the hell is wrong with me, she thought as she started looking around the room. She was in bed, that much she could tell; but she wasn't in her room. The most obvious thing wrong for her was that the bed she was in was nowhere near as comfortable as the one she normally slept in. It was also way too small and the four posters and pink canopy were missing. It was also way too dark, she mused. And the walls were some ugly beige color and completely bare save for a whiteboard opposite where she was, a TV hanging from the wall and a clock next to the TV.

She noticed that someone was in a chair next to her bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes to get a better look. She was surprised to see that it was Belle, asleep and curled up in the most uncomfortable looking chair Mal had ever seen. Her legs were curled under and her head was resting on her arms which were resting on a pillow that she'd somehow gotten to stay in place.

"Belle," she groaned, her voice more hoarse than she'd ever heard it before. "Belle," she tried again.

Belle stirred in her chair. She shook her head in an effort to shake off the sleep and focus on what had woken her. When she was aware of her surroundings again, she looked around and her eyes went wide at the sight of Mal, awake…and by the looks of it, coherent. She sprang from her chair and stood next to the bed, wrapping Mal in a hug as much as she could.

"What happened?" Mal asked once Belle released her.

"You don't remember?" Mal shook her head. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Mal thought for a second. "I remember being in Mr. Crane's class, then things get fuzzy."

Belle proceeded to tell Mal what had happened, getting the girl a tissue as she saw her eyes water just in case the tears began to fall. Mal used it instead to wipe her nose as she felt it start to run. Leave it to me to finally get sick when I'm away from Mom so I _don't_ get yelled at, she thought. Flashbacks to her mother getting so angry at the times she was sick came to Mal's mind, and she shivered at the thought.

"Are you cold, Sweetie?" she heard Belle ask her out of nowhere.

"Huh?"

"You were shivering, are you cold?" Mal nodded, not wanting to tell Belle why she was really shaking. "I'll go ask the nurses if they can grab you another blanket. I'll be right back, okay?" Mal nodded and watched as Belle left the room.

Once Belle was gone Mal began to try and remember what had happened but her mind refused to put it together. It felt like it was just within her reach but whenever she tried to touch them, the memories just pulled back. A few minutes later, Belle came in followed by the doctor who was treating her on the floor. While Belle spread the blanket over Mal, the doctor began examining her.

"Good morning, Mal, I'm Doctor Staple," he said as he shined his pen light in her eyes to check them. She winced from its bright ness and shook her head. "Sorry should have warned you," he told her with a laugh.

"I didn't think the docs stay this late," Mal quipped as the doctor took out his stethoscope and asked her to sit up.

"Late?" Belle asked. Mal made a circling motion with her finger to emphasize the dim light in the room. Belle smiled and went to the curtains and pulled them open. While the light wasn't blinding, it was enough to show Mal that she was wrong about the perceived time. "It's only eleven in the morning, Sweetie."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost twenty-six hours," Dr. Staple informed her as he looked at his watch. Mal's eyes widened as he put the ear pieces in his ears and pressed the resonator to her back. "Deep breaths, please." Mal did as instructed and looked over at Bell who now stood over to the side of the bed. "Okay," he said to her after listening at several different spots.

"How is she?" Belle asked.

"A lot better," he said as he wrote something down. He grabbed the chart at the end of the bed and added some notes to it. "Your fever's down," he said to Mal, "but it's still hovering around the hundred degree mark, but that's expected, so don't worry too much about it because we've got you on meds for that. The good news is that it _is_ coming down, meaning no more being at death's door."

Both Mal and Belle looked at each other. Belle was stoic, though she instinctively grabbed Mal's hand. Doctor Staple looked at their faces and knew he'd said something that was shocking to the both of them.

"I'm sorry, I thought that at least you'd been told of the severity of her symptoms, Your Majesty," he apologized. Belle shook her head. Well this is awkward, he thought. "As sorry as I am for delivering this…shock," he began, "I am glad to be giving you some good news. In the next few days, as long as we can get that fever down and keep it down, I think you can go home."

"R-really?"

Dr. Staple nodded. "Now I mean your actual home, not your dorm. Your virus was a little stronger than most, that's why it did so much damage, and I don't want to risk you infecting someone else right now. So once you get out of here, consider yourself the recipient of a four-day vacation."

He noticed that his words hadn't brightened his patient like he'd thought they would. She just needs time, he mused in his own heard. "I'll leave you two alone for now," he said finally and left the room.

"Could I have really died?" Mal asked a moment later, looking shell shocked after what she'd just heard. Belle didn't answer. She was still processing the information herself. "Belle?" Mal whispered.

"I don't know if he's totally right, but you were pretty bad there for a while."

Mal let her head fall back to bed and closed her eyes. Belle watched a single tear fall down Mal's cheek. Like she did in the ER, she grabbed a tissue, but this time handed it to Mal. Mal whimpered a thank you and opened her eyes to dab at the tears. Belle saw the glassy way Mal's eyes looked and realized that the girl was holding back her tears.

"It's okay to cry, Sweetie," Belle reassured her.

Mal shook her head. "I'm okay," she said, forcing her voice to sound normal.

Belle was about to tell her that she didn't need to toughen up. That it was alright let down her guard. She wouldn't hold it against her. But before Belle could start speaking, Mal beat her to it.

"Where am I going when I get out here?"

"Excuse me?"

"The doctor said he didn't want me going to my dorm so I didn't infect the other students. So where am I gonna go? I don't exactly have a home of my own to go to in Auradon," Mal explained, a small touch of fear in her voice.

"Your room at the palace," Belle told her.

"I don't have a room there."

"I had one made up for you, Sweetheart," Belle told her.

"Thank you," Mal said, her voice sounding shaky.

"Do you want me to let Ben and your friends know that you're awake?"

"They're in school right now aren't they?"

Belle nodded. "But I'm fairly sure none of them are concentrating on class. Especially Ben and Evie."

Belle let Mal know about their reactions. About how Evie had to be practically consoled and told over and over that nothing was going to happen to her since she cried for nearly an hour. That the doctors would figure out how to help. And how Ben refused to leave Mal's bedside. "We had to force him to leave since only one of us could stay overnight, and he had duties to attend to that he couldn't get out of, so he needed his rest too."

"Thank you for staying with me," Mal said, wanting to change the subject hearing how she scared everybody.

"It was no problem, Sweetie, it's what mothers do."

"Not my mother," Mal scoffed.

Belle swept some hair out of Mal's cheek and back behind her ear. "Well this one does. And just like you took care of me, I'm taking care of you. I'll be here every day with you until you're released, and once we get you home, I'm making sure that you get back to being that fun, energetic girl I've come to love, okay."

Mal nodded and once again felt herself fighting back her tears, this time though, they were tears of thanks. "Do you need anything, Sweetie?"

"I'm…I'm kind of hungry."

"I'll let the nurses know you're feeling hungry and see what kind of diet the doctor said you can have while you're here, okay." Mal nodded again. "You just lay back and rest, I'll be right back."

Belle leaned down and gave Mal a soft kiss on the forehead, and then left the room. Mal waited a few seconds to let Belle get far enough away from her room before speaking up, still not really comfortable saying what was going through her mind out loud, at least not in front of Belle yet.

"Thanks, Mom."


	4. Chapter 4

When Mal made it into her room at the palace she was amazed to see one corner of it covered in cards, a few small stuffed animals, and flowers. She looked at them in confusion. "What the...?"

"The kids at school were worried about you," Belle answered her. Where Mal was looking at the cluster of well wishes with confusion, she had a small appreciative smile. "They started leaving them the day you got to the hospital. Evie said that when she got back your room that night, that some of those were laying in front of the door."

"Some?"

"More got dropped off in the past couple of days. Evie helped Ben bring them over here. In fact...," Belle trailed off as she helped Mal sit on the bed. Then she went over to the pile and searched it before pulling out two different items. "These two are from them," she added as she presented Mal with two of the gifts.

The first was a small, round, plump purple dragon with oversized green eyes made from marbles, comically undersized green wings and a wide open, ridiculously happy mouth. Mal giggled when she saw it, and almost broke out into full laughter when she read the stitching on its stomach that said, _Hug Me_. "Aww, from Ben?"

Belle nodded with a wicked little smile.

The other item was a brand new sketchbook with what looked like a purple leather cover made to look like scales and a stuck on face plate that read, _For Mal_. She took the book and ran her fingers over the face plate, tracing out the words with her fingertips. She opened it up and saw that it was made from paper fancier than she was used to. "Evie did know I needed new one. But this must have cost her a fortune."

"She made it actually," Belle informed her.

"What? How?" Mal asked in disbelief.

"Apparently, and don't tell him that I told you this, but Adam gave her the money for the materials, which I thought was really sweet of him," Belle explained. "She spent some serious time on it too, since she wanted done before you got out."

"I love that girl," Mal smiled. "Although, she could've included some color pencils," she joked as she placed the book next to her on the bed.

Belle smiled at Mal, and Mal became puzzled. "What?"

"Look in the drawer in the nightstand next to the bed," she answered happily. Mal did as she was told and gasped as she saw two packs of fresh color pencils. "From Carlos and Jay." She saw Mal tear up a little at the sight. "You really do have the sweetest friends," she told her. Mal nodded and grabbed one of the packs and put it on top of the book.

"Well, how do you like the room?"

Mal looked around and took in the surroundings. The room was beautiful. It was covered in deep rich colors like reds and yellows and maroons that matched well with the mixture of wood, stone, and whatever other material that the walls, floors, and ceilings were made from. The walls were decorated with masterpieces from artists she was sure she'd never heard of. Even the bed was gorgeous with its four poster canopy bed with bright gold and blue sheets and blankets.

"It's nice," she answered, her tone betraying her feelings.

"But it's not you is it?" Belle asked as sat on the edge of the bed. Mal shook her head. "Feel free to do anything you want to it, though I would appreciate it if you consulted me over any repainting, alright?"

"No problem."

"Also, and I would feel insulted if you refuse this, but you see that wall?" Bell began as she pointed to the wall opposite the bed. Mal nodded. "Notice the giant blank space where a painting should be?"

"Yeah," Mal said slowly.

"Well, when you're feeling better, I'm going to have a canvas and some paints brought here for you, and I'd like it if you painted something I could hang there," Belle asked with a not so subtle smile.

"Really?" Mal asked, trying to hide her excitement, and failing just a little bit. Belle nodded. Before Mal could say yes, they heard a knock on the door and Mal saw a middle-aged man standing there.

"Is that my new patient?" he asked.

"Doctor, yes it is," Belle answered as she got up and greeted the royal doctor as he entered and came near the bed. Mal watched as they hugged like old friends before Belle turned to address her. "Mal, this is Doctor Dalton, the royal doctor. I've asked him to look after you until your back to normal."

"Are you gonna tell me I was die too?" Mal asked, not wanting to be disrespectful, but she didn't want to go through another scare like she did at the hospital.

Dr. Dalton looked over toward Belle, confusion written on his face "When we were at the hospital, her attending physician was a little blunt when conveying the seriousness of her condition."

"Which doctor?"

"Staple was his name," Belle told him.

Dr. Dalton got a small, knowing smile on his face. He then let out small chuckle. "Thomas. He's actually a very good doctor," he informed Belle. He then shifted his gaze toward Mal. "But he's young, as you saw, and still getting his bedside manner together. If he scared you, I'm sorry, but, and I'm sorry if I scare you too, he wasn't wrong. You were very sick. But now, it looks to me like you're completely out of the woods, and I'm just going to make sure you stay that way," he explained gently.

"Thank you, Doctor," Belle smiled, feeling better already now that Mal was being watched over by her doctor. "While you two get acquainted, I'll go and see about your lunch. Anything in particular you'd like?"

"You think Mrs. Potts could make me some soup?" Mal asked hopefully.

"I'm sure she could," Belle responded before walking out.

* * *

"Do you feel better now that Miss Mal is home, Your Majesty?" Mrs. Potts asked as she watched Belle prepare the ingredients for some soup for Mal while she did some prep work for lunch for everyone else in the house. Even after all the years she still refused to call it the palace. "It's a home after all," she'd say when someone questioned why.

"I'm ecstatic that she's home, where she belongs," Belle answered as she continued to slice the vegetables. Mrs. Potts saw the smile that was lighting up Belle's face and couldn't help but feel a swell of happiness for her.

Like most of the rest of the staff, she'd seen how close Belle and Mal had become in such a short time and was pleased beyond belief about it. It reminded her of the bond she and Belle had made all those years ago after she lifted the curse placed on Adam. A mother, with a son of her own, but who secretly wished she'd had a daughter as well, coming across a young woman who, whether she knew it or not, was in need of a mother.

Belle turned and saw the way Mrs. Potts was looking at her; a caring yet knowing smile. "What?" she asked, a smile of her own.

"It's just amazing to see you and Mal acting so much alike in here," she told her.

"Alike?"

"I'm more than capable of making Mal's lunch as well as everyone else's, yet you're insisting on making it for her yourself," Mrs. Potts informed her, her round cheery face still smiling.

"Because mothers take care of their children themselves. And it's just soup, I'm may not be a complete expert like yourself," Belle chuckled, "but I can handle making some soup."

"I know you can, dear, but that's not what I meant." Belle looked at Mrs. Potts expectantly. "I meant you two taking care of each other personally."

This time Belle's expression wasn't just expectant, but a little confused.

"When you were sick, Miss Mal insisted on making as many of your meals as she could herself."

Now that's surprising, Belle thought as she began gathering the sliced vegetables to add to the pot that already had the chicken inside it before adding the broth.

"Mal cooked?"

Mrs. Potts nodded. "Well, as much as was possible. I helped her with chopping or slicing at first to show her how to do it without getting cut, but everything else, she was hands on."

Mrs. Potts watched Belle turned back toward the pot that held the soup, and, after so many years, knew it was because was trying to hide the fact that she was tearing up and didn't want to let let her see it happening. "Am I to assume that you didn't know this?"

"She always said you made everything. That she was just down here waiting for it."

"No, she was doing everything; it made this old woman's heart smile to see her be so caring toward you."

That sweet, sweet girl, Belle thought as she processed what she'd just been told. The entire time she was sick, Mal had her convinced that Mrs. Potts was making all of her food, and instead, she was doing for her. If Ben doesn't make that girl my daughter by marrying her, I'm adopting her, she thought gleefully. Mrs. Potts watched her surrogate daughter wipe away a tear and knew that Belle was probably thanking the heavens for Mal coming into her life.

"So now that we've both gone a little maudlin over Miss Mal's presence, should _we_ get back to finishing her lunch?" Belle nodded.

"While we're at it," Belle started, "Ben mentioned that Mal loves strawberries. And while I can cook to a certain degree, we both know I can't bake to save my life. So…could you whip up something for desert for her tonight?"

"Strawberry short cake?"

"Yum."

"I just hope it's as good as the cheesecake she made you."

"That was her, too?" Belle asked in complete disbelief. "That thing was delicious."

Mrs. Potts giggle good-naturedly. "Well, dear, it helped that unlike you, she _did_ have the patience to listen to me when I gave her that lesson."

Belle began to laugh at the thought of Mal being down here, probably being a better student for Mrs. Potts than she ever was.

"I really do love that girl," Belle said without thinking.

"I can see that, Sweetie."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: I gave serious thought to letting the last chapter be the ending to the story, but I felt like something was missing. So I decided to wrap things up a little more. This chapter goes a little off the usual path of the other chapters; no one's sick, no one's going to the hospital, and no doctor's being too blunt and saying someone almost died. But now, I think the story comes full circle and feels complete. This is one of my favorite chapters I've written in any of my stories, and I hope you like it. Thanks for reading and enjoy…

* * *

Mal had been back at her dorm for a few days, her flu virus having run its course and Dr. Dalton deciding that she could come back. While she did like being back at school and getting back to her routine, she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't missing the castle a little bit. She thought it was silly, she'd only stayed there a little under a week, but already the place felt like home.

Right now, she was frantically trying to clean up the room. As she moved, picking up stray clothes and art supplies, she realized that she was actually picking up _her_ side. Evie's side was immaculate, not a piece of clothing, a stray shoe, a beauty supply, or fashion designing necessity out of place. After she was done picking up after herself, Mal then went to work setting up her easer near the dresser in the back wall, adjacent from the door.

"Hey, M," Evie said as she entered her dorm room.

"Hey," Mal answered back.

"What are you up to?" the bluenette asked as she saw her friend setting up her easel.

"Just setting up for Mom's…I mean Belle's…visit," she answered.

"You know you don't need to correct yourself, Mal," Evie told her.

"Hm?"

"You called Belle 'Mom'," Evie said to her. "Then you corrected yourself and called her Belle."

"Cause that's her name."

"Not for you. I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, for you, 'Belle' became 'Mom', and whenever someone is around to hear you, you act like you said something wrong."

Mal sat on her bed and looked over at her best friend. She didn't want to admit it, but Evie was right. She did have trouble referring to Belle as Mom when other people were around. Hell, I've never even said it in front of her, she thought. But the reason she always corrected herself wasn't because she felt she was doing something wrong.

"Evie, I _still_ have a mother," she said as she sat down on her bed.

Evie went over and sat next to Mal. She wrapped her arm around her and pulled her close. Mal immediately rested her head on Evie's shoulder, almost smiling as she felt Evie wrap her other arm around her, hugging her tight.

"I know you do Sweetie, but right now, Maleficent is a lizard. And - and as I say this please remember that I love you - but your mother was terrifying. You said there were times she even scared you."

"But…"

"But she's your mom, I know. I'm the same way," Evie revealed, causing Mal to lift her head and look at Evie in shock. "Ever since we started dating, Doug's mom checks up on me, like Belle does for you."

"What do you do?"

"I don't say it all the time, but every once and a while, the word 'Mom' sometimes gets used instead of Connie."

"Does it feel weird?" Mal asked.

"It did at first," Evie admitted. She took a deep breath and thought about her relationship with her boyfriend's mother. "Now? Whether I say Mom instead of Connie, I know it doesn't mean I love my own mother any less."

Mal looked like she was even more confused than ever. Part of her wanted to stay loyal to her mother. After all, her mother was the reason she was who she was; confident, smart, resourceful. Although, she knew she had also been brought up with some less than endearing qualities; her mother wanted her to be conniving, manipulative, and just plain mean

But Belle never asked her to be any of those awful things. She tried to help Mal be more than those things. And she celebrated Mal's better traits; her intelligence, her empathy, her kindness.

"Despite what your mother says, those things don't make you weak, Mal," she heard Belle's voice in her head saying. "You're a better person for having them."

"Feel better, M?" came Evie's voice, snapping her out of her reverie. Mal nodded. Evie smiled and the two of them hugged once more. "So are you gonna paint something else for Belle?"

"Show her something, actually," Mal corrected.

Evie's eyes lit up. "Oh my God, did you finish the painting for your room at the palace?" Mal nodded. "Can I see it?"

Mal nodded again and Evie squealed with joy. "When Belle gets here."

"Aww, you're no fun."

* * *

A half hour later, Evie was at her desk getting in some last minute studying so she didn't have to worry about it over the weekend. Mal was laying back on her bed feeling more nervous than she'd ever felt in her life. She had her sketch pad out, but instead of drawing, she was tapping the pencil against the page over and over.

"Mal, stop it, you're going to drive _me_ insane," Evie told her.

"Sorry," Mal said quickly. "I'm just a little scared."

"Of?"

"What if she hates it, E?"

"Well considering I've never seen it I can't say if she'll hate the painting itself, but," Evie said in a tone that let Mal know she was still annoyed at not being allowed to see the painting, "she loves you. I'm sure she'll love whatever you made."

Mal was about to speak when a knock interrupted her. "Oh God, she's here," Mal panicked, jumping out of her bed, but not moving from it.

"Mal, calm down," Evie instructed her as she went to open the door. "Hi, Your Majesty," Evie greeted with a smile a curtsy.

"Evie, hi," greeted before wrapping the young girl in a hug. "And I've told you that you can call me Belle," she said gently, softly moving some hair back behind Evie's ear.

"Manners matter," she said. "At least that's what my mother says."

"Well, despite her…crimes, it's nice to see that the Evil Queen taught you that."

"Thank you, and while she did stress that, I meant another mother," she smiled.

Belle smiled back, gently cupping Evie's face, glad that she too had found someone to fill that void for her as well.

She walked into the room and turned her attention toward Mal. "You said you finished the painting, Sweetie?" she asked, politely pointing toward the easel with the covered painting. Mal nodded, nervously biting her lip. "Well, can I see it?"

"Y-yes," Mal stuttered. Belle and Evie looked at each other and smiled. They walked over and stood before the painting, both of them eagerly anticipating what Mal had done. Without further ado, Mal grabbed the sheet was using to hide the painting, pulled it, and finally revealed her work.

On the canvas was an effigy of Belle, sitting on a throne, looking positively regal in a yellow gown, a sly smirk having her lips. Standing next to, well, more leaning on, the throne with one arm, the other perched coolly on her hip, was Mal, dressed in the same outfit she'd worn on Family Day when Ben introduced her as his girlfriend. On her face as well was the same sly smirk.

Evie's jaw dropped open, a small breath let out at the same time. Almost immediately, a smile replaced her open-mouthed reaction. Belle's reaction was even stronger. An audible gasp was heard from her, even though she'd brought her hands up to cover her mouth.

"D-do you like it?" Mal asked, not sure if she was more nervous, or terrified.

Belle nodded. "It's beautiful." Mal let out a breath of relief, trusting that Belle's reaction was real. "What's it called?"

"The Current and Future Queen?" Evie asked, a hopeful smile on her face. Belle let out a small giggle.

"Actually I was thinking," Mal said, pausing for a flood of emotion. She'd already decided on the name for the painting, but now that she had to say it, she was finding it to be the most difficult thing she'd ever done. "I was thinking…Mother and Daughter."

Oh my God I said it, Mal thought, astonished that she'd actually been able to get the words out. She looked over at Belle and Evie's faces, and felt her eyes fill with tears as she saw them. Evie's eyes were just as tear filled as hers, and she didn't know if Evie was holding them back or not, but the look of elation on her face spoke volumes. She was proud that Mal had finally referred to Belle as Mom.

Belle on the other hand was not doing as well a job of holding back as her friend. The normally calm and reserved Queen Mother of Auradon, was a picture of emotion. Whereas Evie managed to keep her tears in check, Belle was crying rivers. "Sweetie," Belle sobbed, moving over to Mal, and wrapping the girl up in her arms, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Mal felt Belle squeeze her tight, refusing to let her go. Mal hugged Belle back, just as tight, and now crying just as openly. They probably would've stayed that way, holding each other as the family they had become had it not been for the sound of Evie's phone letting them know that she had snapped a picture.

They came apart at the sound, and turned to look at her, seeing that she had gotten her tears under control. "Sorry, but I felt like capturing the moment," she said making her way toward the door.

"You don't need to leave, Evie," Belle said, doing her best to stop crying herself.

"I know, but…I suddenly feel like calling Doug's mother. I'll text you the pic later okay, Mal?"

Mal nodded as she watched her friend leave. Once Belle and Mal were alone, Mal wiped her tears and stood next to Belle. "I'm going to need you to paint something else for your room," Belle told her. "I'm putting this in the main hall with the rest of the family portraits for everybody to see." Mal nodded, too afraid to try and immediately speak for fear of breaking out into tears again. Belle put her arm around Mal and pulled her close, no longer feeling like Mal was _like_ a daughter. She _is_ my daughter, she thought. "I love you, Mal."

"I love you too, Mom."

The End


End file.
